Volkswagen’s spinoff commercial vehicle business, Traton has achieved a sharp 43 per cent year-on-year increase in its overall sales volumes in 2021, despite the continuing influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficulties in the supply of semiconductors.
According to Traton, all of its brands contributed to the success, with higher figures reported across its truck and bus business and with MAN’s TGE vans, a rebadged version of VW’s Crafter.
Traton sold 271,600 vehicles in 2021, up from the 190,200 in 2020, with the 43 per cent increase over 2020, which included the volume from its US Navistar operation, which only came in the Traton fold mid-way through 2020. Without the benefit of the Navistar sales in the US, Traton still recorded a 27 per cent year on year increase in sales volume, from its other brands including Scania and MAN and the South American based Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus.
The Group’s truck sales made up the lion’s share of its volume with 230,500 units sold in 2021, up from 156,400 in 2020 an increase of 47 per cent.
Traton’s bus business saw 18,900 units in 2021 an increase of 17 per cent over the 16,200 buses it sold globally in 2020. Its bus sales were significantly boosted by its purchase of Navistar, which has a big footprint in the massive US school bus market.
Scania was Traton’s star performer, increasing its sales volume across trucks and buses by 25 per cent with 90,400 vehicles, up from 72,100 in 2020
MAN Truck and Bus sales volume was up 15 per cent to 93,700, with the previously mentioned MAN TGE vans making up almost 25 per cent of the brand’s total volume with 20200 sales for the year.
Although Navistar only entered into the Traton fold in July it still delivered total volume of 30,300 vehicles for the last six months. Navistar’s potential inthe US market now that it is well capitalised and will benefit from shared technology and driveline from its European siblings and has enormous scope for expansion in the coming years.
In Brazil the Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus increased its sales volumes by a huge 55 per cent to 57,400 up from 37,000 in 2021,
Christian Levin, chief executive officer of the Traton Group in commenting on the result said that 2021 was a very challenging year as a result of the supply chain shortages.
“Thanks to maintaining close ties with our suppliers and the determined dedication of our purchasers, we have been relatively successful in getting to grips with the supply situation,” said Levin.
“However, the bottlenecks are not over yet, being able to deliver products to our customers as quickly as possible continues to demand our full attention. This is another area where the close collaboration between our brands will be of help. In light of this, my outlook for 2022 is optimistic,” he added.
